Death Strings
by Spaghetti Soysauce
Summary: AU. The death of a notorious criminal, the eerie string of murders. The truth is the lie, the lie is the truth. Everything, surely, is not what it seems.
1. Prologue

**A/N: **I'm back! After a long time, I finally have time to type and continue my stories. I couldn't continue due to school activities and such. I'm sorry for the long wait! For my other stories, I haven't ditched them! I'll make an update sometime this week. I thank everyone for their patience!

**Summary**: AU. The death of a notorious criminal, the eerie string of murders. The truth is the lie, the lie is the truth. Everything, surely, is not what it seems.

**Warning**:** Character death, bloody, swearing, some parts may not make sense, might be confusing at some parts, randomness**. _Read at your own risk!_

Crime types of fanfics are really not my type, but I was requested by a friend to do one. And she wants Roxis/Pamela as the main pair, so there. But other pairs will be hinted, too.

I know the title's crappy, but I couldn't think of anything else, so please bear with me. And please bear with the weirdness of this fic. It's my first time to do an AU of MK! I hope this will turn out well.

If some of the terms used here are wrong, please point them out. Thank you very much! I would also love to hear your comments on this story, too!

Disclaimer: I don't own MK, but the plot is mine.

* * *

><p><em>January 3, 1999<em>

_He watched the kids smiling at amusement as they rode the horses, and as they went up and down slowly._

_God, what was he doing, staring at the carousel anyway? He wasn't supposed to be here._

_Not anymore, since his case was finished._

_He turned to leave, but turned around at the end. He could still remember._

_Long lavender hair, a white dress, sapphire eyes, a sunny smile... No._

_He shouldn't be thinking of her._

_She was just a key towards the truth._

_And that was the excuse he was sticking to._

* * *

><p><em>December 8, 1998<em>

"You finally came. Do you know how bloody cold it is?"

Roxis Rozenkrantz shook his head as he shut the door behind him. He now looked at his boss, who was currently smoking a pipe and poring over some files. He cringed. The smell of smoke in the room was overpowering, and the room needed cleaning badly. In the corners of the room were papers and shelves that had a thin layer of dust, and the room looked like it hadn't seen the sunlight in ten years. The room was not even ventilated, except that the whirring sound of the air conditioner told him the room was ventilated via an AC. He rolled his eyes.

"What kind of person would use an air conditioner during winter? No wonder you think its freezing." The blonde examined the room in disgust. "Anna would kill you for this. She just cleaned your room two weeks ago, and its reverted back to its awful state."

The man over at the desk swivelled his chair around to face his employee. "She'll get over it. But right now, we have more urgent matters than taking care of an awful room."

Roxis's eyes narrowed. Gunnar Damm, the head of the Justice Agency, didn't look like he was goofing off for once. His eyes looked serious.

Yes. Justice Agency. Although the name of the place sounds like crap, it was a renowned office that boasts its expertise in crime solving. Their head, Gunnar, was famous for bringing an end to the terrible reign of Tony Eisler, a feared criminal over the years. Everything was peaceful in the peculiarly named Al-Revis town, but the crimes began to accumulate a couple of years after Tony Eisler's capture.

Since the police were pretty much useless most of the time, the agency willingly did all the work.

It was pretty troublesome, but the agency managed.

Gunnar removed the pipe off his mouth. "Eisler. He's fucking dead."

Roxis raised an eyebrow. "About time."

Gunnar snorted. "I know. I had the same reaction when I heard about it, but..." His eyes narrowed. "His death seems particularly... suspicious."

"Huh." Roxis shrugged. "He died of natural causes, or was there possibility of murder or suicide?"

Gunnar narrowed his eyes.

"Bloody murder."

Roxis looked up. The vicious criminal Tony Eisler murdered? That just signalled the possibility of a new crackpot terrorizing their town. The red-head tossed a couple of files towards the blonde. Roxis looked at them with interest. They were photographs of Eisler, dead in his prison cell, and some autopsy files.

"His eyes are bloodshot. Multiple stab wounds... but the straitjacket wasn't ripped off, and there were no slash marks on the jacket. Then how..." Roxis looked at the red-head. "When was he discovered dead?"

"This morning, around 2:15. He was found dead with his bloody straitjacket on. When they took it off, the stab wounds were revealed, which is odd."

Roxis nodded. How could there be no slashes on the straitjacket when slashes were on the body? That was odd, indeed.

Gunnar returned the pipe on his mouth. "There was no blood outside the halls, no trace of the murder weapon. No one suspicious was sighted during the prison, and when we watched the video provided by video camera around the hallway for clues, the video just showed us some bloody guards passing by during their shifts."

"No signs of the video being tampered?"

"None, but I already requested Riggs to check it out."

"Was there no suspicious action of the guards who served Eisler food that day in the video?"

"Nothing as well. They just showed the guards shoving a tray of food into the cell. Eisler's cell was also examined well. There were no possible entrances for anyone... or anything to get in, nor out. The prison head, Lorr, issued interrogation. His lackeys are interrogating the prisoners while some are checking the recorded videos of the video cameras installed around the jail."

"Hm." Roxis adjusted his glasses. "So I presume you want me to look up at this case?"

"Hell no." Gunnar said blandly. Roxis raised an eyebrow. "I'll handle this crap. I want you to take a look at this case. There's a possibility of this case being related to Eisler's murder." He tossed another file towards Roxis.

Dropping the Eisler case file on the desk, he proceeded to open the other file. The first thing that came to his sight was a file of a person named Nicholas Dales. Below it was a picture.

The picture showed a gruesome sight: a bloody man pinned a wall, his hands and feet were nailed to the wall, and a large scythe was sticking out around his chest. Beside the blood corpse was something written in the man's blood:

_Tony Eisler shall return for you_. He grimaced. The words were large, meaning the killer had killed poor Nicholas brutally and used his blood to make a note. Roxis's eyes wandered to the man's face. An expression of great shock painted his bloodied face, and his mouth was agape.

He was found around the streets of the town.

He turned to another file. Kodama Mithers, age seventeen. He looked down to see a picture of her murder scene. She was hung from a flagpole; on top of her head was a large scythe. Roxis read her autopsy. She received five gunshots: two on her palms, two on her feet, and one on her heart. When she was lowered down from the flagpole, when the police removed the scythe off her head, there was something written on the scythe.

_Wait for me, my dearest._

She was found at Al-Revis elementary school's flagpole.

The murderer was after someone. But who?

"So bloody brutal, ain't it?" His boss asked.

"Hm." Roxis continued reading.

"You do know what the scythe means, right?" Gunnar puffed some smoke.

"The symbol of Tony Eisler." Roxis closed the file and placed it on the desk. "When did these happen?"

"Both happened on the same day Eisler was murdered. Nicholas was found an hour before Eisler's murder, and Kodama was found two hours _after_ Eisler's murder. Same thing. The murder weapon wasn't found; there were no traces of blood anywhere, and there were no witnesses. The only thing that connects both victims is Clock tower Carnival."

Roxis raised an eyebrow. "Clock tower Carnival? Were they co-workers?"

"Yeah," Gunnar shifted in his seat. "But they don't know each other. Asides from them working at the same place, the places of their murders were just nearby the carnival."

Roxis nodded. "Those messages found..."

"As of now, they make no sense. Especially the first one." Gunnar looked out at the window. "But... We're sure of something, though. The murderer is after someone, and that person won't rest until they found that person they're looking for."

A long silence enveloped them both.

"You'd better start at Clock tower Carnival." Gunnar said, breaking the silence. "Return here if you found anything interesting."

"You don't need to tell me that." Roxis turned around to leave. Shutting the door behind him, he walked through the halls of the agency, heading out.

The murder of a well-known criminal.

Two bizarre murders bearing indescribable messages.

A mysterious murderer running loose.

This was going to be one heck of a case.

* * *

><p>The ending's kinda lame. I have to get better at this.<p>

I'm kind of excited to continue this, but I will concentrate on updating my other stories first before continuing this. I hope this wasn't too sloppy.

Please review and give your opinions on this fic! Thank you very much!


	2. The Pied Piper of the Carousel

**A/N:** Update! I did this faster than I thought. A little more polishing, then I can update my other stories!

Thank you to **superecho **and **a certain failing author** for their reviews and opinions! I know it gets kinda heavy at times, but I'll try to see that there's humour as well. And for alchemy... Kufufufu. :D

Oh, I'm currently using the Japanese names since they sound more... Appropriate. I think.

**Warning**:**Character death, bloody, swearing, some parts may not make sense, might be confusing at some parts, randomness**.

Yeah, I'm still keeping that there for safety purposes. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: No, MK isn't mine, but the plot is!

* * *

><p><em>File 1.5: The Pied Piper of The Carousel<em>

Walking through the hallway, Roxis bumped into a flustered Riggs.

"Whoa!" Riggs stopped and looked at Roxis. "Hey, Rox! You're early! It's 5:12!"

Roxis ignored the nickname given to him. Riggs had the unusual fascination of calling people by random names he invented out of nowhere.

"As much as it's tempting to come late, our boss demanded me to come early." Roxis sighed.

Riggs gave a fox-like smile. "Heh." All of the sudden, Riggs eyes opened. "Oh crap! The message, the message!" With that, the flaxen-haired man rushed off, heading towards Gunnar's office.

Roxis continued his walk, deciding to go back to his office. As he passed by, he heard the chatter of some employees.

"Have you heard?"

"About Eisler? Yeah!"

"It's so unsettling..."

"They say that _it's_ involved in the case..."

"What's 'it's'?"

"Alchemy, you dumbass!"

"Oi, oi! Not so loud!" An employee shushed the crowd, and pointed towards Roxis.

Roxis walked impassively, but the word that the employee said personally bugged his mind.

Alchemy. Was it really coming back?

O0O

"Gunnar-ya!"

Only one person could call him that abnormally. "What do you want, Riggs? I was listening to the lucky winners of the lottery, and I hoped it was me..." The red-head raised a lottery ticket for effect.

"Screw the lottery, Gunnar!" Riggs slammed his hands into the mahogany table. "I got something more important!"

"What, Zeppel finally got the guts to ask Melanie on a date?"

"Oh yeah, that too... I knew that spineless bastard had it in hi..." Riggs broke into a grin, but then he shook his head just as fast. "Argh you, Gunnar! It's not that!"

Gunnar chuckled. "Speak English, Riggs! I won't get what you're going to say!"

"It's Eisler!"

The man raised an eyebrow. "What about the dead man?"

"The ambulance that was about to bring him to the forensics..."

"Yeah?"

"It was burned down!"

Gunnar rose from his chair and glared at his friend.

"_What?_"

O0O

"Slowly... Slowly..." A voice from the room instructed. Roxis looked in. An aquamarine-haired female was carefully giving instructions to an older long-haired blonde who was climbing a ladder.

"Wait, wait! Steady!" The aquamarine-haired girl instructed.

"Argh! Stupid... box... of... files!" The blonde shouted, reaching out for the box.

"Anna." Roxis entered the office.

"Gaaah!" A scream was heard as someone fell from the ladder. A small cloud of smoke was seen. Roxis covered his mouth casually. Anna winced.

"Nike-sempai...?" Anna looked over at the pile of scattered papers and boxes.

"Owww!" Nike rubbed her head. She opened her cat-like eyes and glared at the blonde. "You! Rozenkrantz! I could've broken a bone!"

Roxis smirked. "As if this was the first time that happened to you, Mele."

Nike Mimi Mele just gave another glare and attempted to stand up. "Damn you, arrogant blonde..."

"As if you aren't blonde and arrogant yourself." Roxis watched as Anna helped the Nike up.

"Oh, shut _up_!" Nike said lamely. "Ow, ow..."

"Roxis-nii..." Anna gave a look.

"Yes, yes." Roxis sighed and pulled out a chair for Nike to sit on.

"I still can't believe that you two are cousins!" Nike exclaimed as Anna helped her to position herself in the chair. "Anna-chan is such a kind person..." She smiled at Anna, and then glared at Roxis immediately. "While you're a complete jerk!"

"Honoured." Roxis said sarcastically as he went over to his table.

Anna Laemmle sighed as she listened to the usual bickering of the two. Although she was only seventeen, and both were older than her (Roxis was twenty-one, and Nike was twenty-six), she felt like she was the older one between them. She took out two mugs and proceeded to pour tea into them.

Her cousin, Roxis Rozenkrantz, was a well-known detective in the agency, and was known for being awfully sarcastic and observant. He was also known to be Gunnar's right hand man, thus he was much respected.

Nike Mimi Mele, her sempai, was a single mother. She had to strive in order to take care of her three children, and thus asked help from her friend, Gunnar. She worked mainly on forensics with a friend of hers.

"How was the talk with Gunnar-san, Roxis-nii?" Anna asked in order to avert the bickering of the two.

"You can ask him later." Roxis pocketed his phone into his trench coat. "I'm off."

"Oh, for a date?" Nike snorted. "Poor female, she's gonna have a bad time."

Roxis scoffed. "If ever I had a date, which I don't," Roxis narrowed his eyes at the cat-like female. "I'd be thankful that I can attract females unlike a certain feline who can't attract men, but can only find fish bones."

"Nii-san!" Anna frowned at her cousin. Nike stood up from her chair abruptly.

"Wha...! Fish bones?" Nike glared at him. "I have no idea about what you just said, but I certainly know it is absolutely _not_ a compliment." She turned to Anna, who looked a little dumbfounded due to Nike's... denseness. "What's a feline?"

Roxis smirked. Anna sighed. "Feline pertains to cats, sempai."

"Ca..." Nike blinked, and finally understood the words of Roxis. She snapped.

"_Rozenkraaantz_!" Nike took out a large mallet out of God-knows-where. Anna panicked.

"Nike-sempai!" Anna rushed to her sempai with her semi-futile attempts to calm her down. "Please calm down!" She turned back to her cousin. "Mou, Roxis-nii!"

Near from the door, one could hear the snide smirk of a certain person.

"_How the hell can I calm down when that jerk from God knows where just called me a damned feline?_" Nike shouted. "Ah! Don't you _dare_ run, you inconsiderate bastard!" She tried to lunge for the doorway, but Anna blocked her way, and Roxis calmly exited the office without a care that an angry office mate could whack his head into oblivion and his poor cousin was calming said office mate.

"Nike-sempai! Men think that Catwoman is, um..." Anna searched her vocabulary for the proper word. _Sexy? No! Gorgeous? Not really... Urr...What else... Um... Ah!_

"Hot! Er, maybe Roxis-nii was giving you, um, a compliment, perhaps...?" Anna finished her statement rather lamely. Although she knew that her cousin would never, _ever_ give such a compliment to their sempai, hopefully it would calm down the unfeminine beast of her sempai, and distract her from the fact that her cousin was not giving her a compliment, but an insult.

Her sempai stopped moving for awhile.

"Is that so?" Nike finally said as she had a smug look at her face, brought her hand to her chin, the other to her hip. A loud crash was heard behind her. Anna sweat dropped, and jaw nearly dropped open. "Well, I should've known I was that se..."

"Nike-sempai! You've destroyed the floor _again_!"

"Wai... W-whoa! What a hole!"

"Nike-sempai! Ernentraud-san is going to kill us! It's been the _fifth_ time! Ah, maybe we destroyed one of her ovens or something else!"

"Ah, who cares? At least _one_ of the causes of food poisoning will disappear!" Nike gave a laugh.

"_Nike-sempai!_" Anna shouted, exasperated. She knew that her sempai was free-spirited and such, but...

"_Nike Mimi Mele!_" An angry voice was heard from the hole below. A blue-haired lady around her forties appeared, angrily glaring at the yellow-head.

"Uh-oh. Speaking of the food poisoner..." Nike flinched as the blue-haired lady started spouting out words that she couldn't much understand, but it was obvious that the cake shop owner below them was darned angry and was going to stir logic into one's brain with a whisk.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered..." Nike held up a finger. Anna raised an eyebrow, irritated.

"What is it _this_ time, sempai?"

"I... gotta go!" With mad speed, the blonde rushed out of the room, leaving an agitated Anna Laemmle and a swearing cake shop owner gravely frustrated.

"_Nike-sempai!_" A shout echoed from the hallway.

"I'm so sorry, Anna!" Nike shouted as she rushed for the nearest escape route. She definitely didn't want to be cut to death by her little kouhai, and would never want that to happen. Her little kouhai, after all, _was_ a fencing genius.

* * *

><p>Roxis Rozenkrantz stopped as he finally arrived at Clock tower Carnival. He checked his pocket watch. He only took about five minutes. The distance from the Agency and the Carnival wasn't so far anyway. He pocketed his watch and looked up at the colorful place.<p>

True to its name, the place was a carnival with a clock tower in it. At the very middle of the carnival stood said clock tower, a clock tower not as large as the Big Ben, but it was a rather tall and elegant tower with winding stairs. Climbing up there, they say, could almost take up about sunset or so, but the view up there was very refreshing.

He entered the carnival. There were a considerable amount of people, but at least it wasn't crowded. He still frowned though. Why the heck did it have to be so colourful, filled with balloons, lights, streamers, and uninteresting attractions? He'd never understand...

He shook his train of thoughts. He had some work to do...

He made his way to the main office of the colourful carnival. As he passed, he heard a melodic tune.

"_Tsuyoi hito ne tte minna ga kimi no koto o kai kafuru kara__  
><em>_itsuno mani ka hontou no sugata o miushinatte shimattetanda..."_

He turned to the direction of the voice, which came from his right. The sight that greeted him was a bright circle with a couple of horses that move slowly up and down. A carousel.

By there was a group of children, enticed by the melodious voice from the carousel. There, in the center, was a female.

The pied-piper like female had long, wavy, loose lavender hair that was kept neat by a purple-bluish headband that had a small purple ribbon on one end. She wore a long white dress. As her song finished, the children and a couple of watchers gave applause. She opened her eyes, revealing bright sapphire eyes. She smiled, and he noticed that she had a rather sunny smile.

He mentally slapped himself. Did he just seriously think that?

O0O

She sang for once. It never occurred to her that she sang, with people around her. She was astounded. She never had the confidence.

Ignoring the fact that she sang for a crowd and she had this sudden air of confidence, she now started talking to the children who wanted her to finish the song. Stating that it might rain if she continued on singing, the children gave some hearty laughs. She laughed along, then caught the feeling that she was being stared at.

She scanned the crowd, and her eyes finally landed on a tall blonde man with glasses who had a rather blank facial expression. She smiled and nodded towards the man. Why? She had no idea why, but it seemed to return the wits of the man. He sauntered off.

She watched as the man left. The children, wondering at what she was looking at, tugged her hand. "Ne, nee-san, what are you looking at?"

She, as well, had her wits returned and faced the children with a smile.

"Oh, it's nothing, really." She smiled, and continued her conversation with the children.

* * *

><p>Roxis and Anna are cousins. Yes. Nike's a single mom. Yes. I told you this is random!<p>

The song that the 'pied piper' sang was _Onelifecrew's __**Tsuioku Merry-Go-Round**_. This fic was a little bit based on that song. For the translation of the verse she sang, I'm not placing it. Yet. Believe me, there's a reason.

Thank you reading! Comments and suggestions are very much welcome!


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